Viking (ship, 1892)

The "Viking" at the world exhibition in Chicago in 1893

American special postage stamp with the Viking , 1925.

Viking is the name of the replica of a Viking ship that was built in Norway in 1892 on the model of the Gokstad ship .

construction

Twelve years after the sensational find, the Gokstad ship was faithfully recreated by shipbuilder Christen Christensen in his shipyard "Sandefjord Mekaniske Værksted" in Sandefjord , Norway. For the construction were oak and several thousand rivets of iron used. The ship turned out to be very seaworthy, it reached a speed of up to 10 knots , the hull adapted flexibly to the swell.

Atlantic crossing

In 1893 the "Viking" crossed the Atlantic with a crew of 11 under the leadership of Captain Magnus Andersen. The goal was the world exhibition in Chicago . The route led from Bergen via Newfoundland to New York , from there the journey continued over the Hudson River and the Erie Canal to the Great Lakes . In mid-July, after a voyage of over two months, the ship reached Chicago, where it attracted a great deal of attention. In a race between the "Viking" and a replica of the Santa Maria , with which Columbus discovered America, the extraordinary seaworthiness of the ship proved. It was described that the Viking glided as easily as a seagull over the crests of the waves and, with an average of 9.3 knots, was significantly faster than the Columbus ship with 6.3 knots. After the exhibition ended, the "Viking" went to New Orleans and returned to Chicago in 1894, where it was forgotten.

Whereabouts

The "Viking" was handed over to the Field Columbian Museum in Chicago, where it increasingly weathered in a dry dock . Around 1920 a Norwegian Women's Association of the ship took part and collected around 20,000 US dollars for a restoration. After repairs and restoration, the ship was handed over to the Chicago Park District. In the following decades it passed into the possession of various foundations and was restored several times with private funds. Since 1996 the “Viking” has been located in Good Templar Park in Geneva (Illinois) under a transparent roof and can be viewed there. Since 2012, the private foundation "Friends of the Viking Ship" has taken over the maintenance and care. Several times large sums of money were donated from private sources for the maintenance of the ship, which was restored again in 2013 and 2014.